Tigers, Orioles Swap Lombardozzi For Alex Gonzalez

Lombardozzi, 25, hit .259/.278/.338 in 307 plate appearances for the Nationals last year, appearing at second base, left field, and third base. He was traded to the Tigers in December along with Robbie Ray and Ian Krol for Doug Fister. Lombardozzi is a Maryland native whose father spent parts of six seasons in the Majors. The move gives the Orioles added infield depth in light of third baseman Manny Machado starting the season on the DL. The Orioles added Triple-A depth yesterday with their waiver claim of David Adams.

Gonzalez, 37, was in Orioles camp as a non-roster invitee. Gonzalez had signed a minor league deal with Baltimore in January, and put together a strong line in 30 spring plate appearances. Gonzalez provides another option for the Tigers for the injured Jose Iglesias, who will begin the season on the DL and will miss likely significant time with stress fractures in both shins. The Tigers acquired infielder Andrew Romine from the Angels two days ago.

The Tigers' return for Fister, already seen around the game as light, takes a further hit with Lombardozzi being swapped for an expendable player like Gonzalez.

Lombardozzi is better than Gonzalez in virtually every area except maybe defense. The only knock is that Gonzalez is primarily a shortstop. The O’s needed more immediate help at 2b/3b than a back up SS. Lomardozzi can also hit pretty decent (backup player, not a starter), could have a future with the club beyond this year. Gonzalez has no future beyond this year, if he even lasts more than a month.

Are you serious? We hustled them and struck when they were vulnerable and in need of a SS. We traded a 37 year old minor league signing from two months ago for a local 25 year old player with major league experience who is under team control for multiple years. HOFbardozzi is our opening day 2B.

Let’s not push things. Lombardozzi should not be a starting 2B anytime soon with Baltimore. I like him as a utility helper who can handle 2B & 3B and 1B in an extreme pinch — nothing more. If he’s starting for the O’s, something has gone dreadfully wrong with Schoop, Flaherty, and Weeks.

Schoop’s down for the first few months because we’re cheap. Weeks is down because he’s bad. That leaves Flaherty, another utility type. Maybe two backups = 1 full timer? Don’t see it in either player’s batting line, though.

Lombardozzi is our opening day 2B, while Flaherty moves over to cover 3B until Manny returns. He will move to a utility role once Manny is back, and IF Schoop hits AAA pitching for the first time in his career then he may get sent down. That would also have to include Flaherty not playing well. Either way, he is solid depth for next off season if Hardy walks.

Tigers have a pretty high payroll and look good at just about every position. They were like the second best team in the American League last year. They haven’t made all of the right moves, but this one is of no consequence at all.

Illitch was old 20 years ago. The son took over as CEO of Illitch holdings and rumors around here for a while say that he wants nothing to do with the sports teams. Bring in Gilbert when Illitch goes…..keep this team looking forward

Flaherty is probably gonna start third wit manny on the DL, and I wouldnt be against starting Schoop the way he’s hitting but I feel they dont want to bring him up this early for financial reasons… Switch hitting second baseman with potential to lead off if needed, cant go wrong wit lombo

Panic. He knows he can’t win without a decent SS, and is too stubborn to sign Drew because he is mad at Boras for negotiating so hard over Scherzer. He should check his emotions and do whats best for the team.

Awful trade. At least Lombardozzi showed potential to contribute. Gonzalez is past his prime (if he ever was considered ‘prime’ for this position), and him at SS is just as good as our options in Perez and Worth. Just simply wasted a new pickup, and this makes the Fister trade look even worse.

I too think DD has lost his marbles. We have made 2 trades for SS that are in my my mind, not better (defensively or offensively) than our internal options. And yet we have a huge whole in our bullpen with Rondon down. I would have rather gone with Danny Worth at SS and made 2 trades for relief pitchers.

Lombo wasn’t anything special, but he could play multiple positions in a utility role. Gonzalez played a full season full time 3 years ago and hit .241/.270/.372 which is awfully close to his career numbers.
Very meh. The OBP is way lower than I’d like.

Weeks makes the team to start, since Flaherty and Lombardozi will start at 2b and 3b with Machado out. Plus Flaherty doesn’t hit lefties, so they probably brought Lombardozi in to platoon. Once Machado returns from the DL, Weeks is probably demoted.

Trade makes a lot of sense for the Tigers, not so much for the Orioles. With Flaherty, Schoop & Weeks they could’ve covered it for the time being. When Machado is back they won’t have a place for 2 of those 3 and will be looking to trade at least one of those players and they’ll have to hope the market is in their favor.

We traded a 37 year old SS we signed a two months ago on a minor league deal for a 25 year old player with major league experience that hit .300 down the stretch last season and has options and several years of team control. Detroit got worked because they were desperate. Without even considering needs, trading a 37 year old who was going to be cut in a week for Lombardozzi is a deal you make every time.

And the sad thing is they had an easy option in Drew. Sure, it costs them a pick and some cash, but odds are the guy they gave up for Agon is a better player than they get from the pick given most picks are busts.

only problem is, this leaves an odd man out on the orioles after manny comes back. most likely lombardozzi starts 2B and flaherty starts at 3B with weeks as utility. then when manny comes back, flaherty to 2B and lombo becomes utility and weeks is gone. schoop starts in AAA. due to his back injury last year he really only played a few games at the AAA level. it wouldnt hurt to get some more polish.

Stop right there. You’re overlooking one major factor in all of the infielders you’ve mentioned — they all have options. Weeks, Flaherty, and Schoop all have options and my bet is that Buck plays the hot hand all year long as needed. If Schoop flops, he goes down and Flaherty steps into the starting lineup. If Flaherty is needed elsewhere or is floundering, Weeks gets a shot. Right now Lombardozzi is the only one who will probably be kept on the 25-man all year long as the backup to Machado at 3B and whomever is handling 2B at the time. All others have options and they will be used liberally this year.

Gonzo would have been cut too. Non-roster invitee. Money saving move, that makes DD look better than he would have, if he just simply cut Lombo. He can’t hide from the Fister trade, and now that it’s looking more and more likely that Max is gonna hit FA, DD is left holding a fist full of cash, and a baseball team with numerous gaping holes. I love what DD did in the past, but this off season has been an absolute disaster for a team that was supposed to contend for a WS.

Nowhere in my post did I say “the sky is falling”. I’m just calling a spade a spade. When you ship off Doug Fister for nothing, then lose your starting defensive star SS for the year, your 8th inning man, and presumably future closer, for the year, and 1/2 of your LF platoon, that amounts to a disaster in my book. That all said without including the Scherzer situation, where everyone knows the writing is on the wall; that Scherzer is gone after this season, and that suddenly our starting rotation next year is looking much more human than the past 2-3 years.

I’d love to agree with your assessment that we are still the best team, and by a wide margin, but I don’t think it behooves me to discount the Indians and Royals, and the teams they are going to field this season. I think the AL Central race will be far more competitive than you believe.

I always liked Lombardozzi when he was with the Nats. And we don’t need a 37-year-old. And Weeks is looking like a throwaway, so Lombo could be the 2B until Schoop is ready or Machado comes back and moves Flaherty to 2B.

Tigers sifting through the garbage bin for a meal when there is a medium rare sirloin on the table for 13 million or so. LOL. Too bad the Tigers owner is MIA as this is a boat without a clear direction. Tigers need to go all out this year because when Scherzer, Hunter and V-Mart are gone they will have too many holes. Agon has had a nice spring but he is not the answer

The Tigers are clearly no longer making serious strides to win it all. Perhaps the owner falling into ill health has changed the tone; the team no longer has a “win at all cost” mentality. Maybe they decided that approach did not get them the brass ring, but at least it got them close in recent years. The roster has taken a nosedive in this off-season, due to bad trades and injury. A team with three of the better players in the game–Miggy, Verlander and Scherzer, plus an assortment of other good players, should be pushing for something more.

So basically we got nothing for fister…Our bullpen is a mess..and I hate to say it we really need Stephen drew…he would sure up the middle defence and has range to help with costollanos..let’s face it nicks glove is below average..don’t get me wrong it’s time to see what he can do..I think in the batters box this year he will be a beast…and for the love of god we need to part ways with Phil Coke he is washed up with a 79mph fastball…I feel this year on paper we aren’t as good of a team as last year…I feel that without pulling the trigger on Drew we will lose about 10 more games then last year..and with our division getting better and better I don’t see us winning the pennant. ..or the wild card for that matter..I hope I’m wrong! Please give me your thoughts

This Trade is not as bad as everyone thinks, the guy has decent power, something we have been short of. He hit 23 Home Runs in 2010 and 15 in 2011. Now that he is healthy, I would expect around 15 home runs again, if not more. Andrew Romine will often defensive sub and/or Pinch-Run in late innings kind of like in the playoffs when Jhonny Peralta started at ShortStop and Iglesias would sub for him later for defense. Also, the Tigers had no use for Steve Lombardozzi, as Danny Worth is a very similar player. They did, however, need some power. However, the Fister trade was still an absolute disaster.